


Hello

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [43]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark Emma, F/F, Inspired by Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 13:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5093051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There's such a difference between us, and a million miles."</p><p>-Adele</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hello

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Adele's "Hello" because I'm OBSESSED
> 
> Disregarding 90% of Dark Swan canon
> 
> ONLY EIGHT WEEKS LEFT GUYS

It’s not surprising that the house is blue. It’s not modest, but not so ostentatious as the mansion Regina chose for herself. The columns are small, connecting the patio to the roof, providing a perfect shelter for the porch swing in front. In short, the house is so very Emma.

Regina stands across the street with both coffee cups clutched in her gloved hands, just staring at the house while the drinks grow cold. Granny gave her such a strange look when she ordered the hot cocoa with cinnamon. She must have known. She must have known. She must have known.

Regina shakes her head to clear her mind. She hasn’t been sleeping much lately. Her laser focus on getting back the Emma they all know has taken a toll on her, causing her thoughts to circle like broken records at times. She doesn’t know how to do anything but obsess anymore.

She stares up at the house that looks so normal, so like any other house in town. It’s almost impossible to believe what darkness lies inside. She considers knocking on the door. She considers crossing the street. She considers taking a step. She doesn’t do any of those things. Instead, in the way she’s done lately, she overthinks.

Killian has been inside the house, as have Snow and David. But whenever Regina tries to speak to Emma all she hears is radio silence. It’s as though they’re in different worlds. Opposite sides of a barrier separating light from dark, and for the first time in their lives they’ve traded places. And where once upon a time Regina tried her hardest to drive Emma away, now she wants nothing more than the Savior-turned-friend-turned-Dark-One back in her life.

It would be so simple to just walk across the street, knock on that door, and say “Hello”. So why is it so hard to move? It’s as though her feet are bolted to their spot on the sidewalk and no matter how she wills them, they won’t take a single step.

Before she can talk herself into turning back, the door to the house swings open and Emma stands there in the doorway, and from this distance Regina can’t even see a difference from the Emma she’s always known. She looks the same as she always has. Long blonde hair falling around her shoulders and face, armed with a leather jacket and those skinny jeans.

Emma turns her head and zeroes in on Regina with a stone-hard jaw. Thin pink lips form the syllables to Regina’s name as icy eyes penetrate her very skin. And suddenly, without warning, Regina’s crossing the street to stand on Emma’s porch and look her in the eye.

“What are you doing here?” Emma asks, and her voice doesn’t sound dark or frightening to Regina’s ears. It just sounds empty.

At this proximity, Regina can see heavy bags and red circles beneath green eyes that have lost their shine, and skin so pale it’s nearly translucent. She looks physically ill, as though every breath is hard labor, and Regina’s stomach lurches at the sight. “I brought you some cocoa.” Regina holds up the cup in her right hand.

Emma narrows her eyes. She takes the cup and turns to go inside, tilting her head in a silent invitation for Regina to follow.

It’s cold inside the house. Emma leans on the kitchen counter and takes a sip from the cocoa. She frowns. “It’s cold.”

“I was out there for a while.”

“I know.” Emma turns and opens the cupboard to pull out the mug Regina knows to be her favorite. She pours the cocoa into it and puts it into the microwave, waiting until it finishes being heated before she takes it out and takes another sip. “Better. Thanks.”

Regina tilts her head. “You could have used your powers for that.”

“Yeah, I could have.” Emma sets the mug down. “Why did you come here?”

“I wanted to check on you. Say hello from the other side.”

Emma narrows her eyes. For the first time, Regina notices how sunken in her cheeks are. She looks like she hasn’t eaten in days. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’ve been shutting us out. It feels like you’re a million miles away instead of a mile up the road. I know how you work, Emma, but we’re not giving up on you. Stop trying to make us.”

Emma sits on a stool at the counter and rests her chin in her hands, just staring at Regina with those eyes so void of hope. “You really should. I’m a lost cause.”

“How could you say that?”

“Because it’s true. There’s only one way to get rid of a Dark One, and there’s no way I’m letting any of you do that. I won’t let anyone else end up like this.”

Regina furrows her brow and studies Emma’s pale, sickly complexion. “You haven’t given in yet.”

“What?”

“You still have compassion, feeling. You can still love. And you don’t have that weird glittery skin that Dark Ones have; you just look like you’re going to throw up.”

Emma smiles tightly and shakes her head. “I’ve been fighting it for as long as I can. But I’ve been fighting it since before I became the Dark One.” She sighs and ducks her head into her hands. “Ever since I killed Cruella, I… I have this other side to me. The bad side.”

Slowly, as though trying not to spook an injured bird, Regina reaches out with the intent of resting a gentle hand on Emma’s elbow.

But Emma flinches. A bolt of magic flies from the palm of her hand and the light fixture above the stove shatters all around them. Emma backs away from both Regina and the stove, clutching her hand, eyes wide and flashing as twin bright green moons. “A-Are you okay?” Her voice quivers as do her hands and she looks so young. She looks so young. She looks so young.

“I’m fine.”

“You should go.”

Regina shakes her head.

“Regina, get out of here before I do something worse. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’ll be okay. I’m here to make sure _you’re_ okay.”

Slowly, on shaking legs, Emma sits back down on her stool and folds her hands on the counter. They sit there in silence for a minute. “How’s Henry?” Emma asks finally.

“He misses you. He spends every spare second trying to find a way to help you.”

“He’ll get over that soon. Time heals.”

Regina offers a sad smile and shakes her head. “Henry hasn’t done much healing. If anything, every day that goes by fuels the fire.”

“And what about you? How are these days treating you?”

“They’re long. Henry’s not the only one that misses you.”

Pink lips flicker in just a ghost of a smile, but it’s enough.

“I make it to the end of each day with a plan for the next. How tomorrow I’m going to really find a way. And then I wake up and all I can do is think about how badly I miss you.”

“I don’t want you to waste your days on me, Regina.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s no secret that the both of us are running out of time.”

Regina sighs heavily. “I’ve been running out of time since I was a little girl.”

“So go live your life. Just let me go; it’s too late for me now.”

“I’m not going to listen to you talk like that.”

Emma smiles with eyes so devoid of emotion that a chill runs up Regina’s spine. “You’re watching from the outside, where it looks like there’s still hope for me. But you don’t know. You don’t hear them.”

“Hear what?”

“The voices.” Emma drops her head into her hands and rubs her temples up and down, eyes squeezed shut and hands clutched into tight fists. “All the Dark Ones. They never go away. They want me to be like them. They want me to be dark.”

“Are you hearing the voices now?”

Emma’s eyes shoot open and pierce through Regina’s skin straight to her soul. “They’re the loudest with you and Henry. They can tell I care about you two the most.”

Regina furrows her brow. “What about your parents? Killian?”

“Don’t make me feel guilty.”

“What do the voices say?”

“Right now they want me to pick up that shard of glass on the floor and-” she breaks off into a choked dry sob and moves her hands to clutch at her throat. Her nails rake down pale flesh, leaving angry red marks in their wake, raised off of the creamy, otherwise unmarked flesh at the base of Emma’s neck. “I don’t want to give in but someday I know I will. Someday I won’t have a choice.”

“We won’t let you get to that point.”

Emma doesn’t reply to that. Instead, that same emotionless smile crosses her face again and she shakes her head with a soft chuckle. “Do you remember before all this? When we lived in a town where nothing ever happened?”

“I’m glad we made it out of that time.”

“I miss it. My biggest problem was a bitchy mayor who turned out to be an insanely good mom.”

Regina smirks. “Back then I thought you were a much better mother than I was.”

“We’re always tougher on ourselves, aren’t we?”

“We are.”

Emma stares at Regina for a minute as though trying to memorize her face. “Thanks for not giving up on me.”

“Never.”

“I guess you’re the Savior this time around, huh?”

Regina smiles. She stands from her stool, glancing around at the mess of glass on the floor. With a wave of her hand, the pieces move to form themselves back into the shape of the light fixture, reattaching above the stove as though nothing happened. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Keep fighting, Emma. We all know you can come back from this.”

“Thank you.”

Emma walks Regina to the door, and they share a tight hug before Regina leaves the house with a wave over her shoulder and a smile that lingers behind her long after she goes. Both of them have a fire of hope burning anew, all because one or both of them had the courage to open the door and say “Hello”. Hello. Hello.

 


End file.
